Finding You
by Lilliwyn
Summary: After escaping from the captivty of the true sith, the Jedi Exile finds friends to help her rescue Revan whom she was forced to leave behind. Will they find her in time? LSF Exile x Atton, LSF Revan x Carth. Rated T for violence. Chapter 4 is now up!
1. Chapter 1

This is a story that takes place after the events of both KotOR 1 and 2, so I guess it is my own little version of KotOR 3. There are spoilers for both games, and the story probably won't make sense if you haven't beaten both of them.

This is my first story that has chapters! Yay! As always, reviews are highly appreciated and constructive criticism would be well-welcomed. No flames please!

Disclaimer: I do not own Star War: Knights of the Old Republic I or II, or Star Wars. This is merely a story that takes place in that universe.

* * *

Revan sighed as she leaned back against the wall of her cell. Her back ached from being propped up against the rock-hard wall for so long, but she didn't care. The pain in her back was nothing compared to the other things that the sith had put her through. The sith knew far too well how to inflict pain. They had demonstrated that to Revan many times, and from the screams that she had heard coming from down the hallway on occasion made it sound like they had shown Vatani, too. The sith had been torturing them both since the beginning of their captivity. In doing so they also tried to convert them to their side. After all, a former sith lord and a jedi exile could be valuable assets to them. Revan was as stubborn as ever, though, and she didn't budge a bit.

The jedi fingered the black box at the nape of her neck. The sith had put the force inhibitor on her right after she was captured. She hated that thing. If anything was going to drive her crazy in this dungeon, it was going to be that box and what it robbed from her. When they first arrived, she had hoped that the torture the sith would put her through would have been enough, but obviously they had other ideas. She was very lonely with no companion, four dark, black walls around her, and no Force to have at her beck and call to comfort her. Regardless, she promised herself that she would stay strong to the light and that the sith would not be able to convert her.

Revan heard the rush of air come down the hallway and she glared through the bars of her cell as one of the sith flew by. They were hideous creatures, and they reeked of the dark side. They were not like the sith from the known regions at all. They were not human in any way, and were very alien. Their bodies were a transparent gray and you could see straight through them. They had no organs, at least not that she could see through their skin. They moved like shadows. They didn't have legs, but they hovered around and were able to fly. They had no face on their head. They didn't have any eyes, ears, nose or mouth, but they used the Force to see, hear, smell, and talk. Instead of arms they had four shadowy tentacles that protruded from their sides. For a weak mind, one look at one of them would drive away all hope that one might possess and replace it with despair. They were also shape shifters, and they were able to transform into anything they wished as long as they were able to use the force to find the image in their victim's mind.

Revan hated the sith. They were disgusting, ruthless animals. She was helpless and defenseless against them, and she couldn't do anything about it. Despite her situation, though, she did her best to make sure that she stayed calm and drove any thoughts of revenge away from her mind. She also kept the jedi code very close to her, and it often helped her stay on track.

Suddenly, the lights in her cell and out in the hallway flickered out. She was surrounded by complete and total darkness, and she couldn't see a thing. It wasn't long after the lights went out that they went back on, though.

A few minutes later, sirens went off and red lights blinked in the hallway outside of her cell. Even though the high-pitched sound increased the pain of her headache, the sirens were music to Revan's ears. The true sith flew down the hallway in pursuit of their escaping prey. Distressed grunts echoed through the hallway as they spoke to each other in their own alien language. Revan smiled as she guessed what was happening. The Exile must have had her chance to escape. About fifteen or so minutes later, the sirens stopped and the red lights finally stopped blinking. The sith came back down the halls grunting angry shouts at each other, but Vatani was nowhere to be found. Revan's smile grew wider as she realized the Exile was successful. This had truly made her day.

_Good luck, Vatani._

* * *

_**Three days later...**_

Carth Onasi sighed as he took a sip of his water. He was at the cantina on Dantooine waiting to meet up with the jedi Exile, Vatani Moonlight. He tapped his foot impatiently on the floor under the table. She was supposed to have arrived there half an hour ago, and Carth was very anxious to hear the news that she was meeting with him to tell him. After all, it had been two years since she had left to find Revan, and there were rumors that Revan had come back with the Exile. But then again, that rumor had sprung up before, and for all he knew Revan was still out in the Unknown Regions fighting the "true sith". He ran his fingers through his now graying hair. He so hoped that Vatani had news of Revan.

Carth looked across the at the other side of the cantina. Bastila Shan, who had accompanied Carth on his trip, was seated at a booth there talking to three other jedi from the enclave. The jedi looked very familiar, and after a couple moments of staring he recognized them to have been Vatani's former shipmates. After Malachor V and the disappearance of the Exile, they had come to Dantooine and helped to rebuild the jedi enclave there and train more jedi. They were pretty sucessful, too. The jedi enclave had almost fully recovered from the destruction that the sith caused six years ago. They also had quite a few students now. If Revan was here, she would be very happy to see the state that the enclave was in now.

It wasn't long until the door at the entrance of the cantina swung open. In stepped a petite women with shoulder-length blond hair that was tied into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She was wearing navy blue jedi robes and had a silver lightsaber hanging from her belt. Her blue eyes scanned the cantina and flashed with recognition when she looked over at Carth. She gracefully strode over to his table and seated herself across from him.

"You're late," Carth spoke, unable to hide the frustration in his voice.

The Exile looked up at him and nodded apologetically. "Yes, and I'm sorry. I was..." her voice trailed off as she seemed to be trying to find a proper word to use, "delayed."

As the waiter came by their table he refilled Carth's water. Carth thanked him as he took Vatani's order, who also ordered water.

"So, did you ever find Revan?" Carth asked.

Vatani nodded. "Yes I did, Carth. I found her about six months after I left for the Unknown Regions."

"Is she with you?" Carth's hopes rose but then fell as he heard the Exile's answer.

"I wish she was. I am afraid that we have been separated."

Carth took a deep breath before he asked his next question. "What happened, Vatani?" He held his breath as he waited for her to speak. This seemed to be a hard subject for the jedi in front of him to talk about. Regardless, he needed to know what had happened to Revan. He remained silent and gave the Exile time to gather herself. She sighed, and then opened her mouth to speak.

"Two weeks ago, we found the coordinates of a spacecraft that belonged to the true sith," Vatani started. "Revan and I had the impression that it was a small one, maybe just a small republic freighter that they had stolen and were occupying. That had been the trend with the sith ships that we had found, so we didn't do more research on it to find out what kind of ship the ship was, or how big it was." Vatani shook her head grimly. "Unfortunately, we were wrong. It was not a stolen republic freighter, and instead it turned out to be a a interdictor ship that the sith had probably stolen from the leftover ships that were produced from the Star Forge." She thanked the waiter as he gave her the water she ordered. She took a sip and then started again.

"The Ebon Hawk was no match for an interdictor ship. Of course we fought back as we were attacked, but our defeat was inevitable. After they crippled the Ebon Hawk so that it could no longer fly, they took us into their tractor beam and we were captured. They took Revan and I to separate cells and held us there. We didn't see each other at all except at the rare occasions that the sith would torture us together. I had tried to contact Revan several times through the Force, but she never answered. For a while I was afraid that they had killed her, but later that day screams echoed down the hall that proved me wrong. I'm not completely sure what would prevant her from answering me, but I concluded that they may have somehow severed her connection with the Force. I just hope that whatever they did to her is temporary."

Carth nodded in agreement before Vatani continued.

"Three days ago there was a strange power surge that caused the power to black out. The only thing that enclosed me in my cell was a force field that served as a door. The door had stopped working when the power went out, so I took the opportunity and escaped. A few minutes later the power started working again, but I was already well on my way out." Vatani hesitated again before she went on. For a moment, Carth thought that he saw tears in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away so that he couldn't tell for sure. "Carth, I can't tell you how long I searched for where the sith kept Revan, but by the time I was close to her cell, the alarms went off and they found that I had escaped. I had no choice but to run for the hanger and find the Ebon Hawk.

"The sith weren't able to stop me from escaping. I got to the hanger and was able to use the Force to open the airlock and leave the interdictor ship with the Ebon Hawk. It seemed that the sith had repaired my ship while we were being held captive for some reason, and I was able to get away before the sith were able to react. After that I contacted you, Bastila and my former crew members, and landed here at Dantooine."

The two sat at the table in silence for a few awkward moments. Carth sympathized for the Exile, he truly did, but he was having trouble blocking out the little voices in the back of his mind that kept whispering lies. _She left Revan there on purpose_, they said. Finally, he regained control and the voices muted.

"I'm so sorry."

Carth fought with himself as he looked into her eyes."There wasn't anything else you could do, Vatani."

_Liar. _He shook the voice out of his head. There was truly nothing else that she could have done.

Vatani nodded, but she seemed to have doubted that statement also.

"But anyway, I need your help, Carth. I'd hate myself if we left Revan alone with the sith. She is very strong and stubborn, but I don't know how long she could hold to the light side if they continue to keep her alive and torture her." Carth shuddered inside at the thought. "Besides," she started again, "I need a good pilot. I was thinking about letting Atton be our pilot, but he drives a bit too recklessly for his own good sometimes."

Carth smiled and nodded. "I'd be glad to."

Vatani returned the smile. "Very good! I also contacted and asked Bastila, Juhani, Mira, and Atton and asked if they wished to joined us, and they also said that they would be more than happy to. I also have a few other contacts that I haven't been able to get in touch with yet."

"Do you have any sort of plan for Revan's rescue?"

"Nothing really other than going back to the coordinates where the sith interdictor ship was before. The Ebon Hawk also needs a bit of repair before it is truly air worthy again, so we're going to be grounded for a couple of days. That should give us a little more time to think of something more to add to our plan."

Carth didn't like the fact that they couldn't leave right away. The longer that they took leaving the longer Revan would be tortured. He also didn't like the fact that they didn't have much of a plan. What would they do when they found the interdictor ship? All they would have against the sith were a few jedi that they could easily add to their captives. On top of all of it, just like Vatani, he wouldn't be able to leave Revan with the sith. If they turned her to the dark side the republic would have an even bigger problem then the one they had now. He also loved her, and hated that she would be in incredible pain. He concluded that rescuing Revan was truly the only choice they had.

Carth nodded to Vatani, thanked her for coming and speaking to him, and finished his water before returning to the enclave.

* * *

And so the adventure begins. I'm a busy girl, so I don't know when I'll be able to update. I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can.


	2. Chapter 2

Yay! I finally got the second chapter up. Many apologies to everyone for taking so long. I have been very, very busy as of late. :)

If you're confused, the italicised part at the beginning of this chapter is a flashback.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I or II. This is simply a story that takes place in that universe.

* * *

_Carth sat at his desk and took a sip of his caffa. He was definitely going to need it that night. The Republic was holding an appreciation banquet for the crew of the Ebon Hawk and other people who were involved in the destruction of the Star Forge. They were all at a hotel on Coruscant getting ready for the banquet. He had finished getting ready fifteen minutes ago, and was starting to get impatient while he was waiting on the ladies to finish._

_It had been a month after the destruction of the Star Forge when the Republic finally started to have their appreciation banquet. They had decided to delay it since a few of the members of the crew of the Ebon Hawk had been injured during the battle. Juhani had been inflicted with a minor wound at the shoulder, Bastila had a sprained ankle, but Revan had been injured to worst. Malak had not spared any mercy on her during their fight. She had been pierced at her side and at her shoulder, and for a while her condition wasn't very good at all. Revan was a fighter, though, and recovered quickly._

_Finally, after a couple more minutes after he finished reminescing, he went over to Bastila and Revan's room and started to bang on the door._

"_Are you two ready yet?" he shouted through the door. _

"_Just a minute!" Bastila's voice answered back. After a minute Carth heard the locks unlock and Bastila opened the door. She wore a sleeveless beige dress that was very simple, but it looked nice on her. It was just the kind of dress that he would have thought that she would pick out for herself._

"_Sorry we took so long," she said, "We were having some difficulties getting ready."_

_Carth fought the urge to roll his eyes and nodded as he remembered how long Morganna used to take getting ready for things. She got distracted often when which would delay her when she did so._

"_Is Revan almost ready?" Carth said, trying to hide his impatience from becoming evident in his voice._

"_Almost," Bastila answered. "I believe that her hair was being uncooperative with how she wanted to fix it. She was still in the room fighting it when I came out here."_

_Carth smiled. "I see." From the looks of how long things were taking now, it was looking like they were all going to be late for the banquet. They still had to find and meet up with Juhani and Mission before they left. Since arriving at the banquet on time appeared to be pretty bleak, he let it go._

"_I'm coming, I'm coming!" Revan shouted from her room. She quickly strode out to the door._

_The sight of Revan took Carth's breath away. She wore a lavender gown that had a white sash around her waist. She also wore a shawl that was wrapped around her arms that was the same color as the sash. The sleeves of the gown clung to the side of her shoulders which curved to form a neckline. Above it hung a silver necklace from which a pendant hung which contained a purple gemstone. Her hair was piled on the back of her hair into a neat bun. She must have beat it into place._

"_You look beautiful, Revan." She smiled and her gray eyes seemed to start to glow._

"_Thanks, Carth. You don't look that bad yourself." He smiled again. _

_Bastila started to walk toward the staircase that was at the end of the hallway. When she was out of sight Carth leaned down toward Revan and..._

"So what do you think, Carth?"

It took Carth a moment regain his composure as he jerked himself back to reality. Ever since Vatani returned, he had been having more flashbacks to Revan, and he was having trouble keeping his thoughts off of her. He looked around him and saw a group of jedi that were crowded around the table in a briefing room in the jedi enclave. Two days had passed since Carth had his discussion with the Exile, and they had come to make plans for Revan's rescue before they departed. Visas, Atton, Juhani, Bastila, and Vatani stared at him as they waited for his answer.

"I'm sorry Vatani, can you show me the plans again?" She sighed but nodded and showed him a map of an interdictor ship that they had gotten their hands on.

The Exile showed him pivotal points on the map and explained the little plan that she had thought up. It was very simple and Carth picked out several flaws, but he listened to her anyway.

"That's it. What did you think?" Vatani asked when she finished.

Carth hesitated for a moment as he looked at the map in front of him. "First of all, the ship is probably not in the same place where it was when you escaped. Second, we have to be extremely stealthy if we want to board it in the way you are proposing. Third, five jedi can be easily overwhelmed if there are many sith on the ship. I'm afraid that this plan that you have made, Vatani, will be very hard to execute if it is not entirely impossible."

Vatani scowled. She was never really a good strategist, but Carth's criticism still did disappoint her.

"Then what do you propose, Carth?"

The Admiral smiled at her when he heard the irritation in Vatani's voice. He leaned over the table and took a good look at the map, looking for entrances and exits on the ship and such.

"What I'd suggest, Vatani," he started, "would be to follow the ship and see if it lands on any planets. We might be able to make our attack if they do so."

"But that means that we may have to wait a long time to attack. The longer we take to make our move, the longer the sith have to torture Revan." The Exile looked toward the other jedi in the room to see if any of them agreed with her.

"That is very true, Vatani," Juhani piped in when she saw the Exile's eyes continued to scan the jedi, "but what help are we to Revan if we are captured or killed? If we are captured, then there is little hope that we all would be able to escape, and if we're dead, well, the answer is obvious."

Vatani nodded sadly. Carth felt sorry for her, he truly did. He absolutely hated the fact that they would have to leave Revan on that ship with the ship to be tortured, but there was nothing else that they could do. He didn't think that she would want them to go on a suicide mission just to attempt to gain her freedom.

"What if the ship doesn't land for very long time?" The Exile asked.

"Then we can try to see if we can storm the ship and rescue Revan." Bastila said. "That will be our last resort."

"Interdictor ships go through gas like candy, though." Carth added. "Unless they have fuel on hand on the ship, they'll have to stop to refill their tanks."

That fact seemed to comfort Vatani a little. "That's good to hear, then."

"So," Visas started, changing the subject, "Is it just us who is going after Revan?"

The Exile nodded. "I asked Canderous and Jolee if they wished to come, and they both were unable to, and Mira and Mical are staying back to keep an eye on the enclave and the progression of the students."

"So it's just the six of us? What if we are overwhelmed?"

"You underestimate the power of jedi." Juhani smiled at her. "I remember that it was just me, Jolee, and Revan who went and took on all the dark jedi at the Star Forge. There were many waves of them. It's a wonder we all survived."

Visas nodded.

"So when are we wishing to leave?" Bastila asked.

"I'm ready to leave as soon as possible." The rest of them agreed with Vatani.

"Let's leave tomorrow, then," Atton decided. They all nodded in agreement. With that their little meeting was finished, and they all went to go pack and prepare themselves for the trip before them.

* * *

Carth was unable to sleep that night. He didn't know if it was the excitement, fear, and anticipation for the trip that he and his comrades were to depart on the next morning, but he knew that those emotions weren't helping. No matter how hard he fought to keep his eyes closed, sleep would not come. Finally he contented himself with looking out his window at the stars and he started to think.

He was afraid for Revan. If they had to wait in order to make their move upon the sith and rescue her, then there was more of a chance that they might turn Revan to the dark side. There was also other things that could happen as a result of the torture. Her mind was very strong, but even the strongest minds could snap like a twig while they were under all the pressure of torture. Carth had seen that happen too many times for his liking. There was also always the possiblity that the sith could get tired of trying to convert her and kill her, but that seemed to be rather unlikely. And what if she was permanently stripped of the force? There were too many bad outcomes that he could think of that could conclude their mission.

Carth resolved right there that he had to trust that Revan would wait for them and that she would hold strong. He knew that Revan wouldn't want him worrying and fretting about something that may never happen. He closed his eyes again and sleep finally came to claim him

_I'll stay strong for you, Revan,_ he mentally spoke, not caring whether she could hear him or not._ Please, stay strong for me._

* * *

I know that this chapter wasn't very exciting, but I felt that this was necessary before everyone left to rescue Revan. As always, any thoughts on the story would be greatly appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

Yay! I finally updated! After two months! Could you believe that? :)

Yes, I know that this is another uneventful chapter, and a short one at that, but things should pick up in the next one. Hopefully.

Anyway, on to the handy-dandy disclaimer:

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I or II. This is merely a story in that universe.

* * *

"You're cheating."

Vatani scowled playfully at Atton who sat on the other side of the round table where they were playing in the common room. They had been playing pazaak for at least an hour now and the Exile hadn't won once. Atton, however, had won several times.

"That's what you always say." The pilot smiled mischievously at her and took his turn. "You just don't want to admit that you can't play this game."

Vatani's mouth dropped open and she gaped at him. Atton kept on his smile and held back a bout of laughter.

"That is not true." Vatani curled her lip and pretended to pout like a child would.

"Didn't you ever play pazaak with Revan while you were with her?" The pilot asked

"Yes. We played all the time. It was one of the few things that we were able to do to pass the time away other than stare out the window into space. Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering why you haven't gotten any better since we last played." Vatani glared at him after hearing his answer.

"That is not very nice, Atton Rand." She gazed at her cards as she executed her turn. "I can play this game, just not very well."

Atton nodded. "I"ll agree with that."

"Jerk." Vatani smirked at him as he took his turn and won yet another hand. "I still think you're cheating."

"You can believe that if you want to." Atton smiled again as he shuffled the cards. "So, do you want to try your luck with another hand, or are you done?"

"I'll try another hand."

Atton acknowledged her answer as he continued to shuffle the deck. He found this banter that she carried on amusing.

"You know Vatani, it has been way too long since we have played this." What he said almost took her off guard. Her pilot never really was one for sweet sentiments.

"Why? So that you could beat me senseless in this game?" Vatani giggled a little.

"You know what I mean."

"Oh, so the pilot is going soft on me now?"

"Only for you."

The Exile left her chair and sat in the one next to Atton. She put an arm around him and laid her head on his shoulder.

The only sound that filled the air for a couple moments was the sound of the shuffling cards.

"You are right. It has been a long time, Atton."

The pilot nodded again. "Way too long."

Vatani watched as the pilot shuffled the cards. His rough, calloused hands handled them gently so that he wouldn't damage them. The Exile truly did miss moments like this. Two years away from her pilot was too lengthy for her taste. She was very happy to be back with him now. This did make her feel very sorry for Carth, though. Two years away from Atton had seemed to have dragged on forever, and Revan had been gone for six. She couldn't imagine how much he must miss her. He hoped that they found her soon for his sake.

"Vatani!" Bastila's voice echoed through the hallway and pulled Vatani out of her reverie. She rolled her eyes in annoyance as it interrupted the tranquil quiet next to Atton. She sighed but answered back.

"I'm coming!" She rose out of her chair.

"You better hurry," Atton said, "The princess calls. You wouldn't want her to get impatient."

"No, I definitely don't." She headed to the hallway that led to the cockpit. "I'll see you later."

"See you, Sweets."

Vatani waved a goodbye in Atton's direction and headed down to the cockpit.

"There you are." Bastila acknowledged her from the co-pilot seat as the Exile entered. Carth also turned to her and nodded her a greeting from where he sat. Bastila indicated a chair near the wall for Vatani to sit in.

"We have arrived at the coordinates that you told us the interdictor ship was at. As you can see, there is no ship."

Vatani took a deep breath. She knew that the ship wouldn't have stayed in the same place. After all, ships are made to move. But the disappointment that it was gone was present nonetheless.

"Do you have any idea where the ship may have gone to?" Carth asked.

Vatani sat there and thought for a couple moments before she spoke. "There are many places that they could have gone. They may have stopped for fuel, they may have taken Revan to their base, or they may have stopped to go hunting for food. There are many things that they could have done."

They sat there for another couple silent moments as the Exile continued to think. She then strode over to the Galaxy Map and looked at the planets nearby that she and Revan had entered only weeks before.

"There are a number of planets that are nearby that we could land on and search for signs of them. If they're not there, than there may be clues to where they may have gone."

"We don't have much more of a choice, do we?" Carth asked

"No, I believe we don't."

"Then that is what we will do," Bastila piped in. "Which planet do you suppose we land on, Vatani?"

The Exile continued to look at the map until she laid her eyes on a a planet that was lush and green with vegetation. She remembered that it was not too long ago that they saw a couple sith ships land on the planet before. She pointed to the map and showed it to Bastila and Carth.

"Revan and I have seen the sith land on this planet before for food. That planet will make for as good a start as any."

"Sounds good to me," Carth said as he entered the planet's coordinates. "Let's just hope that the sith haven't gone too far."

Vatani nodded. "Let's."

* * *

Yep, this chapter is short. Hopefully, I won't take as long to get the fourth chapter out, though. Tell me what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

Hello! Lilliwyn is here again with another update for her story. I even updated in less than two months! Yay!

This is my first chapter that has ever been posted with a fight scene in it, so if you have any comments on how I did or how I can do better, feel free to leave a review. Your thoughts are very welcome!

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I or II. This is merely a story that takes place in that universe.

* * *

The Ebon Hawk swooped down into the planet's atmosphere as Carth looked for a place to land. After a minute or two of looking, he found a clearing which he decided was a fantastic place to land the ship. Carth gently landed the Ebon Hawk in the clearing and set her onto the ground.

A couple of minutes after they landed, Carth, Vatani, Bastila, and Atton made their way off of the loading ramp and onto the grassy ground. They took a couple moments to take in their surroundings, and then turned to Vatani for her decision on where to go.

"Um, I think that I and Revan have seen the Sith hunting in the forest over there before," she answered meekly.

Everybody looked at the forest Vatani spoke of. It was very overgrown with old trees and brush, and it seemed that there wasn't much sunlight that was reaching the floor. It looked like a perfect, shady place for the Sith to search for food.

"Lead the way for us then, Vatani," Carth commanded. Vatani nodded in acknowledgment and started to walk towards the forest.

They felt a considerable temperature drop as they stepped under the trees' shadows. As they continued further into the forest, the light became more scarce and the air became colder from its absence. Regardless of this, they pressed on and continued to search for any signs of the monsters.

"Do you smell that?" Carth asked after what seemed to be a long while of searching. The stench of death was in the air, and it wasn't long until the party found a dead animal that was laid under a tree. The party's faces paled as they laid their eyes upon the Sith's victim. Vatani covered her nose with a handkerchief to help cover up the smell and went to observe the corpse.

"The Sith have been here," Vatani stated. "They seem to have a strange lust for blood. This animal's blood has been drained from its body, and its heart has been ripped from its chest. The poor thing didn't stand a chance."

"That's very encouraging," Atton added sarcastically with a chuckle. The Exile glared at him as if she was scolding him with her gaze.

"The corpse seems to be only a day old. The Sith shouldn't be too far from here."

"You haven't seen them do this to people yet, have you, Vatani?" Bastila asked, her eyes unmoving from the dead animal.

"No, Bastila," Vatani answered. "I'm afraid they aren't as..." the Jedi paused as if she was trying to find a suitable word, "...merciful with their captives." Bastila nodded as she lifted her gaze elsewhere and started to rub her temples. Vatani's answer didn't seem to comfort anybody, and Carth appeared to be becoming more restless.

"This way." Vatani indicated a direction in front of them and the team set off.

Carth became more edgy as they went on. If the Sith were that brutal with an animal, then what would they do to a person? He then wished that he hadn't seen the dead animal or heard what Vatani said about the Sith. He began to fear even more for Revan's life.

A rustling in a bush several feet from Carth drew him away from his thoughts. He looked around to see if any of his crew mates had heard it too, but they just continued on, either unheeding or not hearing the suspicious noise which came from the bush.

Carth decided to investigate what made the noise and went to look around the bush. At first he didn't see anything, but after a couple moments of careful observation he found a small, reptilian animal hidden under some of the bush's leaves. When the animal saw Carth staring at him with a baffled look on his face, he tamely walked up to the pilot and cooed.

"What are you doing here?" Carth exclaimed in surprise as he gazed down at the gizka. The little creature replied with a shrill squeal and stepped up onto Carth's shoe.

The way that the gizka was behaving was very strange, Carth thought, especially since he was obviously wild and had never seen Carth before. The color of the animal's eyes was a very bright gray. This unnerved Carth a little since he had never seen a gizka with eyes that color before.

"I'm sorry, little guy, but my crew mates are leaving me behind." He pointed at the advancing party that hadn't seemed to have noticed Carth's discovery. "Plus, no offense, but I haven't had very good experiences with creatures like you." He almost shuddered when he remembered the little delivery they had one day on Tatooine when they were under Revan's command on the Ebon Hawk.

Once Carth had finished speaking, the gizka's head and tail lowered as if he truly understood what Carth had said to him. The creature had a look of utter disappointment on his face as he turned on his heels and headed back to the bush. Carth furrowed his brow and shook his head at the strange sight, but then turned around and went to catch up with his teammates.

"Did you all see that gizka back there?" Carth said in-between breaths after he ran to catch the others.

"Gizka? What is a gizka doing here?" Vatani asked with a perplexed look on her face.

"You tell me," Carth stated. "I have never seen a gizka act like that one did before now."

"What do you mean, Carth?" Bastila asked. She, along with Atton, became curious and drew closer to hear what Carth was about to say.

"He seemed to be tame and friendly," the pilot started, "and it was almost as if he could understand what I said to him."

"What color were his eyes, Carth?" Vatani asked at length.

"Gray. Why do you ask?"

The Exile paled as she heard his answer. She pulled her unlit lightsaber out of its holster and ignited it.

"I'd suggest that you draw your weapon," Vatani said as the light from her purple blade lit up her face, "It seems that we may have company."

"What do you mean-" Carth started until he was quickly hushed by Vatani.

Then, as if on cue, deep, incoherent grunts came from further down the path that the party recently came from. Atton and Bastila ignited their lightsabers while Carth pulled out his blaster. There they waited, silently and breathlessly, for the monster to strike.

There was not a noise to be heard for a couple moments. The team stood still, as the hunter became the hunted, and waited to see what their predator was about to do.

"Watch out!" Bastila screamed as a spiked, clear disk came flying rapidly out of the bushes. Everybody ducked as the disk boomeranged over their heads and back to its owner. A tall, see-through, wraith-like being rose from the bushes to catch his disk with one of its four tentacles. Carth's eyes grew wide when he saw what stood before them and started to shoot at his target. While he did so, the Jedi rushed at the Sith and did their best to stab at it with their sabers.

Bastila, Atton and Carth watched in horror as the Sith's four tentacles turned into beams of searing, red light. It had turned its tentacles into lightsabers! It was more than a match for the three assailing Jedi as it parried all of their blows with ease. It was quick, and its' footwork (if you could call it that since Sith don't have feet) moved rapidly to avoid the Jedis' attacks and the beams that came from Carth's blaster. The times when Carth would actually hit the monster never seemed to hurt it very much.

The Jedi jumped back as the Sith started to spin around and flail its lightsabers towards them. Red light filled the air as it did so. Carth was able to get a few shots at the Sith, but it seemed to only annoy it. The Sith stopped spinning and threw its clear disk at the unexpecting pilot. Carth quickly rolled out of the way to avoid it as the disk flew in his direction.

Finally, Atton saw a hole in the Sith's defense and struck the beast at its torso. Clear gel-like goo spurted out of the Sith's wound as it backed up towards a tree with an ear-splitting scream. The Sith's knees went weak and it sat against a tree as its breathing slowed.

Vatani turned her saber off and strode towards the dying creature.

"Where is your ship, Sith?"

It didn't answer.

"I said, where is your ship?" Vatani ignited her saber and held it at her side for a little motivation for the Sith to answer her.

The creature weakly pointed towards the west where the forest had continued to grow darker. Vatani nodded an acknowledgment and turned towards her teammates as the creature drew its last breaths.

"I'm sorry that I didn't explain the deceitful ways of the Sith more before we landed here," Vatani walked back over to the Sith and kicked its corpse to make sure that it was dead. "The Sith are shape shifters. They normally do this to trick their prey into thinking that they are harmless. That's why the gizka acted so friendly to you, Carth." The pilot shuddered as he imagined the dead being when he stepped onto his shoe earlier that day in the form of the gizka.

"Always look at the eyes. Their bright, gray eyes should give them away." The party nodded as Vatani finished.

"Well, let's continue on, shall we?" The Exile pointed at a barely visable path that laid before them.

The weary party bravely walked further into the forest and did their best to not think of the monsters which they were chasing.

* * *

I'd just like to thank all of the people who have reviewed the previous chapters of my fic. I appreciate your feedback and support of my work! Thank you!


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